NBA Names Kalshi, Polymarket as Official Prediction Market Partners, Teams With CFTC to Monitor Unfair Trading
Summary
- The NBA said it will strengthen prediction-market infrastructure by naming Kalshi and Polymarket as official partners and expanding information-sharing and data use with the CFTC and Sportradar.
- The league said it is introducing measures to ensure market integrity, including a ban on prediction-market trading by team and league personnel, while expanding its partnership with DraftKings into prediction markets and pursuing additional operator partnerships.
- The report said the regulatory outlook for sports prediction markets remains uncertain amid conflicting federal and state rulings involving Kalshi, Utah's lawsuit and a request for US Supreme Court review.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
The National Basketball Association has named Kalshi and Polymarket as its official prediction market partners and will tighten oversight to prevent unfair trading.
Cointelegraph reported on October 26 that the NBA announced a day earlier it had designated Kalshi and Polymarket as its preferred partner prediction market exchanges and signed an information-sharing agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Under the agreement, the two platforms will be able to use game data supplied by Sportradar, the NBA's official data provider. The data will be used to determine the outcomes of approved prediction market contracts. The deal also allows the use of the NBA's intellectual property and joint marketing activities in the US.
The agreement includes measures to protect market integrity. NBA teams and league personnel will be barred from trading prediction market contracts tied to NBA games. They will also be required to cooperate in investigations if suspicious trading is detected. The NBA said it plans to expand the scope of its existing partnership with DraftKings to prediction markets and pursue tie-ups with additional operators.
The CFTC also plans to use the agreement to strengthen oversight of insider trading and fraud in sports prediction markets. Commissioner Caroline D. Pham said sharing information with the NBA would help safeguard market integrity. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have previously signed similar agreements with the CFTC.
Still, legal disputes over regulatory authority for sports prediction markets continue in the US. The central issue is the scope of federal commodities rules versus state gambling laws. In September, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in litigation involving Ohio and Tennessee. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, however, temporarily allowed Kalshi to continue operating in New Jersey.
State-level regulatory action is also expanding. On October 20, Utah's attorney general sued Kalshi, alleging it offered illegal sports betting. The New Jersey dispute has been presented to the US Supreme Court for review, with 39 states and Washington, DC, supporting the request. The court has not yet decided whether it will hear the case.
Suehyeon Lee
shlee@bloomingbit.ioI'm reporter Suehyeon Lee, your Web3 Moderator.